“Inspiring Women Worldwide”

Bonnie Moss, PE, President of MBCO Engineering, has been dubbed an inspiration. Her story is a tribute to the perseverance and determination required to build a truly first-class engineering consultancy business.

“We are a woman-owned civil and environmental engineering firm with expertise in design, planning, surveying, construction management, program management, project management and procurement.”

Bonnie’s earliest childhood memories consist of endless travel across North America with her parents, who were musicians. For over ten years her life consisted of new places, new people but limited opportunity for a young girl to gain even the most basic of a formal education. “Our family was extremely financially challenged to the point where we were living in our vehicle for months on end. It was also common practice that my parents would donate blood just so we could eat,” says Bonnie. “When my parents divorced and we finally settled in one place, I was placed into a school grade that matched my age, which at that point was the 8th grade. It was definitely a challenge being both socially and educationally behind my peers. After barely graduating high school at the age of 18, I left the Pacific Northwest with limited funds and the idea to start over in Houston.”

Bonnie soon got jobs making fast cash in waitressing and bartending but realized rather quickly that changing her future would require a different approach. “I made the decision to enroll in college and pursue a Civil Engineering degree. I was studying and working multiple jobs to pay for my own education. It took 10 years to graduate but the result was well worth it.” For the next 20 years Bonnie would work for several amazing organizations across Texas. These opportunities took her from a newly graduated intern to project engineer and all the way to regional manager. “It was at that point when I thought it was time to take all of the experience I’d gained throughout the years and put it to use in starting a company. This was the birth of MBCO.”

Since its inception, MBCO has been guided by the tenet that their Clients and its employees are their greatest asset. It was important to Bonnie to build a world-class engineering consultancy that Clients want to use, and Employees want to work for. One of the original thoughts was for MBCO to grow into a company Employees could buy into, literally, then own and drive. “We are committed to ensuring our Employees are engaged in the success of the business and are happy to come to work,” she says. “If our Employees know they are valued and share our desire to perfect our service and exceed our Client’s expectations, their growth and our growth is ensured. MBCO is greater for the combined efforts of our employee and leadership teams.” Both internal and external Clients have made this endeavor worthwhile for Bonnie whose vision for the Company continues to grow.

The plan for MBCO is to grow the employee numbers into the triple digits over the next five years. “We are pushing for this to occur organically, but acquisition is definitely an option. We are working on our 5-year plan which involves growing our existing engineering and surveying business lines,” says Bonnie. “We are looking into the creation of two new business opportunities that will serve both our existing and future Clients well. MBCO is also in the process of exploring two other geographical service areas in Texas.”

Advising future women entrepreneurs, Bonnie says “believe in yourself. No one is going to believe in you and your dream more than you. Be your biggest cheerleader. Also, don’t look back on the failures of the past, they don’t dictate your future. Learn from those mistakes and then only look forward.” She adds, “You are going to fail at some point. This is a good thing; this is where you grow. If you are genuinely passionate about what you are doing, keep going then success will come and everything will naturally play out the way it needs to.” IE